Page 22 - Internal Auditor M.E. - June 2019

leadership

By: Kashif Husein
Leadership

in Internal

Audit

Definition

Leadership is defined by Oxford Dictionary as an action of leading
a group of people in an organization. The definition provides an
insight of what a leader should be doing. And leading a group
of people does not in a simple sentence imply “LEADING”. In a
more exhaustive manner it implies understanding the internal
and external environment and then leading the group of people.
Internal environment implies understanding the group dynamics
– as every person in the group will have his own unique nature to
be dealt with. External environment will mean to understand the
objectives of the organization and then align the group towards
achieving the objectives. Further due to the interactions with other
groups, the leader will have to possess a myriad of traits and wear
different hats at different point of time to achieve his goals.
ELEMENTS OF LEADERSHIP AND RELATION TO
INTERNAL AUDIT
A Leader as mentioned above must display a variety of traits to
guide the team in the achievement of organization objectives. I Employees are affected in a myriad of ways and some of
have mentioned some of them here, relate them to Internal Audit the consequences noted by the article is: - a. Workplace
and how these characteristics help in achieving organization goals. performance; b. Employee turnover; c. Customer experience;
A. Teacher – Teaching is an essential skill for the leader d. Collaboration. As Internal Auditors are also involved in Risk
to have. Employees look towards their leader for guidance Assessment, hence the effects and consequences are dependent
and knowledge. As we advance from a school based learning on the degree (impact and likelihood) of the incivility.
to self-learning, leader is expected to guide by setting It is imperative that leaders show respect and have proper
own examples. Further for a beginner or a novice person accountability procedures in place. This places the feeling
joining the Internal Audit Team or any Department in an to the employees that they are being treated in a fair and
organization, teaching the nuances and the requirements is a consistent manner. The research found that those getting
key skill for the leader to possess and display. Internal Audit respect from their leaders reported much higher levels of
Heads/Senior Managers can guide the juniors on how to ferret health and well-being, derived greater enjoyment, satisfaction
and meaning from their jobs, and had better focus, and a
out the information required for performing the job. And at greater ability to prioritize. Those feeling respected were also
the same time, it is also dependent on the learner’s capability much more likely to engage with work tasks and more likely to
and skill on how he/she can pick it up and learn from it. stay with their organizations.

B. Humility – Humility is a key consideration for a leader to C. Change Manager – Change is the only thing permanent.
display. In a poll conducted by Mc Kinsey columnist Christine The famous statement by Charles Darwin “It is not the
Porath, incivility amongst leaders have been displayed: strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent

22 INTERNAL AUDITOR - MIDDLE EAST JUNE 2019